


Blue Roses in December

by koi_ling



Category: Winner (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gangsters, Angst, Drama & Romance, From Sex to Love, M/M, Plot Twists, Song Mino is a BOSS, florist Seungyoon, is R rated for the smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:27:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24214405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koi_ling/pseuds/koi_ling
Summary: a Seoul of the past.When Mino’s brother-in-law dies, Mino ends up buying flowers for his funeral at Seungyoon’s shop. Since that encounter, things change for Mino: he slowly falls in love.
Relationships: Kang Seungyoon/Song Minho | Mino
Comments: 7
Kudos: 25





	Blue Roses in December

There was nothing worse than a dead man on Christmas’s Eve. Unless he was not only one of your men, but also part of your family. _That_ was a true nightmare come true.

On other occasions, Song Mino would let his right-hand take care of it, send his condolences in his stead, fatten the purse of the widow and maybe even lend a shoulder to cry on for few minutes. It was all about good politics to maintain their name and be sure there would be no foolish heir thirsty for pointless revenge. And it was fucking Christmas, anyways.

But it was Kim Jinwoo. His brother-in-law. Someone Mino had grown fond of, despite Jinwoo not being his best man.

“He has always been too soft for this work, fucking Kim Jinwoo”, Mino said, and the usually cunning Lee Seunghoon had to agree with him. Anyone had a soft spot for Jinwoo, no matter how much trouble he could bring when he didn’t act like he should. “He should have outlived his wife, for fuck’s sake. Not that I’m wishing death to my sister, you know”.

At that point his right-hand, his cousin Seunghoon, snickered. “Forgive him, Father, for he doesn’t know what he’s talking about”.

Truth to be told, Mino felt a bit taken aback by Jinwoo’s death. Someone would say he was being emotional and, for once, that would be spot on. Sure, Jinwoo wasn’t exactly fitted for this work, he had never been, and he could cause trouble from time to time, his heart too tender for some of their activities, but he was part of the family. And Mino hated seeing his family wrecked by such a tragedy. Whether he cared or not for Jinwoo, he totally did for his sister.

“Flowers would be nice. Not that Danah could ever replace her husband with few roses, but still”, Seunghoon shrugged his shoulders. “You know, you always bring flowers to the dead”.

“It’s fucking Christmas’s Eve”.

“The shop is open”, Seunghoon retorted, his thumb pointing at the shop across the street. It had been there for half a year already and Mino had never looked at it twice. His men had been there asking for a fine amount of money in exchange of protection and the florist had paid soon enough. But that was it.

It wasn’t good to go against Mino’s clan. That was something everyone knew in the neighbourhood.

“I should go there myself”, Mino muttered. “I can’t let others take care of this business. Not this time”.

“I’ll stay alive until you’re back, I swear”, Seunghoon reassured him and Mino couldn’t help the slap he placed on his nape. _That cruel bastard._

As Mino crossed the street with his usual slow, assertive walk, he ended up thinking about Jinwoo’s demise one more time.

He was actually upset about it.

Kim Jinwoo was someone of smooth edges and bright smiles, a kind of person who couldn’t exist in the underworld. And yet, for this exact reason he was refreshing. He was the summer breeze that had made his sister fall in love so deeply, to the point she even dared going against her own family. Mino had wanted her married to a local upstart, to get his hands on that man’s money, but she had defied his authority to have Jinwoo instead.

Mino had been against it, but he couldn’t help it: Danah was like him, too stubborn, too hot-headed. She had what she wanted. And that was a man who could dote on her like she was the very sun bringing life to barren soil.

They had been a cute couple, he had to admit.

_The blow is always stronger when you love too much_ , Mino reasoned.

There was no white lie he could say to Danah. No comfort he could give her. Even those flowers were pointless. But at the same time, they were the only thing Mino could do to her now.

Stick to empty traditions.

“Hello”.

The man of the counter spoke, giving his back to Mino, his hands deep in damp soil as he transplanted a small tangerine in a bigger vase.

Mino cleared his throat, expecting obedience at once, but the man kept working on the plant. “Just a minute”.

He cleaned his hands on the apron and turned to face him, his smile faltering just a bit as recognition filled his brown eyes. “Mr. Song”.

Mino wondered how such a good-looking young man could work there, in the worst suburbia of Seoul, when he could easily be a host or a waiter in some fine bar just for his look. Well, maybe he loved flowers more than money.

“Right, Mr…?”

He knew his name, he just wanted him to say it.

“Mr. Kang. Kang Seungyoon”. He smiled again and this time charmingly. There was something heart-warming in the way his plump lips curled upwards and if Mino were a different man, he might have felt something stirring inside him.

Instead, he went back on business. “I need something huge. A basket would be fine. And white, I need white flowers. I think it might be the best colour for occasions like these”.

“A baptism?”

“A funeral”.

Something flashed in Mr. Kang’s eyes, but he nodded without further questions and started picking flowers from the big vases all around the small shop.

Mino studied him as he went back and forth from the vases to the counter, piling up flowers on the table as he mumbled something for himself. His eyes were focused and his slim hands were quick and neat, the way Mino liked. Those were things required to the men working for him. Mino appreciated a swift hand more than many other qualities.

There was a hint of kindness in the way that man worked that showed how much effort and care he put in it. That earnestness made him think of Jinwoo, somehow. Mino frowned.

Mr. Kang started working on the basket, putting the flowers in a specific pattern at first, then plucking some from the rest to make it look like they had been put there just casually. He added some chrysanthemums here and there.

Mino looked away just in time to not get caught watching.

“It’s on the house”, Mr. Kang said as he handed him the basket.

_Like it should be_ , Mino didn’t say. He just nodded and grinned slightly.

“Merry Christmas, Mr. Song”.

He nodded again and stepped outside.

His sister was a woman like no others.

If their mother had been alive, she would have approved her endless strength and determination. Their mother had been the right example to follow in the family, the pillar of their small world as children. But she had been more, too: a boss when no other could do the same. She had fought to have and keep that spot, when their father died, and she had managed to be needed by the clan more than anyone would admit.

Danah was just like her. And Mino was their male counterpart, or so he tried. He knew that women could be stronger and more heartless that many men, made to bear pain and tragedy like no others.

So he wasn’t really surprised when he found Danah standing in the first row of Jinwoo’s small funeral, not a tear on her cheeks. If he guessed right, a Song like her would not cry in front of others. Not when people was watching.

He greeted his men with a nod of his head, squeezed Seunghoon’s shoulder and then stood at Danah’s right.

“You brought flowers. You should have brought soju”, she whispered. “You know I’m no woman for flowers”.

“These are not for you”, Mino replied, keeping his voice down as the vicar started talking. “He would have liked them”.

“I give you that”, she nodded sharply. She was shaken, but she clenched her jaw and stared ahead, trying to not lose it. Mino placed his hand on her back, for comfort.

Later, there would be tears. When even Mino wouldn’t be with her, when weakness would take her and she would reach for the wedding photo she kept on the heart, when the soju in her body would let her be sincere.

Mino knew a Song always sheds many tears. Each one of them had too much heart, along with too much fire within. The former was a weakness to hide in such a cruel world, the latter was the reason they always burned too fast. Too young.

A Song cries when there is no one watching. And never dies quietly.

“He has been killed”.

“Jinwoo? Why would anyone do that?”, Seunghoon said matter-of-factly. He had his point.

Danah shushed him with her hand and filled her glass with soju, gulping down half of it before talking. “Well, you could say he ended face down in the Han River for an accident. That would be bullshit. My hus… he would never do something like that”.

“I checked with the police. I had to stir things up a little bit”, Mino said then, slurring his words as he kept smoking. “You know half of them work with us. Yet they needed convincing before looking for what I had asked. Now, that’s something fishy”.

Danah nodded and poured another glass of soju for herself. She had been drinking a lot, but Mino wouldn’t stop her today. This is all she had left, for the night.

“Do you mean there is something more to this whole story?”

“Definitely”. Mino pressed the butt of his cigarette in the ashtray. Seunghoon seemed perplexed, mostly because if there was someone among them who probably didn’t have at least an enemy wanting them dead, that was Jinwoo.

Danah was sure, though. Mino saw the fire in her eyes. He knew this would be no good, but he wasn’t the one who could stop her.

That was Jinwoo, and he was gone.

The next day, Mino asked around about Jinwoo. Mino was well aware that sometimes he would take long walks, reaching even the Han River. And sometimes he would drink with few of his men. Slipping in the river with too much alcohol in his body could be a way to interpret his death.

Mino questioned the family’s tailor: Jinwoo had been there last month. The man didn’t tell him anything useful, Jinwoo just wanted a new suit after his favourite got ruined in a fight.

Then he asked the barman of the club where they usually met: Jinwoo hadn’t been there his last night. He went back to their hideout, a house registered to one of his other cousins, Woo Jiho, who was away for military service. There he learnt that Jinwoo occasionally went to the flower shop right in front of their house.

“Hello, how may I help you?”

Mino stared at the florist. He smiled like the last time, like every good employee would do to any costumer. But Mino wasn’t a typical one. Mr. Kang didn’t seem afraid of him, at all.

“Yes, actually yes”. He leaned in, setting his elbows on the counter. Mr. Kang held his stare, even if his smile turned in an uncomfortable one. Mino knew how scary he could look. He placed a hand on his shoulder, tugging him closer.

With the counter between them, he had to bow over it.

“Did you know Kim Jinwoo?”

Mr. Kang winced at that name, breaking their eye contact for a moment. “I had no idea those flowers were for him”.

“So you know he died”.

“Everyone does”. He stared back at him, once again. Mino lingered for a while, taking in his handsome features. Even if his red swollen lips were tempting, his eyes were the most remarking. Deep and enchanting. Two pits where one could lose himself.

For once in his life, Mino looked away and drew back a little. He pretended to do so to light a cigarette. But as he started smoking, he couldn’t lie to himself: he had felt something.

Mr. Kang started talking, breaking the silence settled between them. “If I had known, I would have added some peonies to the basket. He loved those flowers”.

“So he was one of your clients?”

“He came by once in a while”, he admitted. His skinny arms went to hug his torso, and Mino found it somehow very lonely. He had never tried to comfort himself in that way, he always used other methods to kill the pain: was a fight or a whore.

“You liked him”.

“He was kind. He came here to buy some flowers for his wife, he said, but he loved to spend few more minutes to talk about this or that plant. He was just a nice man, really. You must know”.

He did. That was what had warmed Danah’s heart and made her fall for him. Kim Jinwoo was someone no one could resist.

“Everyone will miss him”, the florist said then, shrugging his shoulders.

Mino just nodded. He finished his cigarette as he looked at him and then tilted his head to greet him goodbye.

“Tell me you called this family meeting because you have some news”. Danah looked pretty bad, Mino had to admit. It wasn’t even just one detail giving in how she felt: her whole figure was crooked and in pain.

“The policemen working for us finally gave me what we’re looking for”.

“Has he been killed?”, Seunghoon asked, curious.

“The bruises and wounds he had on his body aren’t the result of lying down at the bottom of the river for few days. It wasn’t the strong flow of waters or the rocks underneath. Those wounds bled. If Jinwoo died by drowning, like the police officially told us, and then his body got hurt after, he wouldn’t have lost this amount of blood. It was before his death. He was hit before he was thrown in the river”.

“He was family after all”, Danah talked, a whisper in the dim room. Mino saw tears welling in her eyes, but didn’t say a thing. “A Song never dies quietly”.

Seunghoon deflated and shook his head, sighing. “Then this means the police are trying to cover for someone”.

Mino thinned his lips at that. “Half of the policemen work for us. They always closed their eyes to what we do for the bribes. I don’t think they had a good reason to do this”. _Unless they want to shake us and try to get rid of our clan._ Mino wouldn’t let them.

“So were they covering for someone else?”

“The Kim brothers”, Danah said. “Kim Jiwon and Kim Hanbin and Kim Jinhwan”.

These names were enough to make them all silent. The Kim brothers were in a never-ending war with the Song family, especially for the control of a very profitable business: selling illegal goods to half Seoul. However, at the moment they were in a truce.

“This is not the right time to attack them”.

Danah looked at Mino with fire in her eyes. “I won’t let my husband unrevenged”. She was ready to clutch the knife she kept at her calf and fight.

“I mean it”. He sounded definitive and cold. His authority couldn’t be defeated, this time. “We won’t start a war until we’re sure. And we need preparations”.

Danah hissed at him, unsatisfied. She was stubborn and untamed, but Mino had to convince her or she would cause a ruckus.

“I won’t allow any act of undeserved mercy. I just need confirmations before we do anything. We don’t want to lose half of our business and family for an improvised and impulsive plan, don’t we?”

Danah had to nod at that. “Sure”. She was still raging, ready to burst at the thinnest movement, but Mino knew she wouldn’t let others get hurt for her revenge. He feared _she_ would let herself get hurt, though.

“Keep an eye on her, would you?”, he asked Seunghoon when he was sure Danah wouldn’t hear them. He agreed promptly.

That morning Mino didn’t mean to enter the flower shop.

He had to go to their usual hideout, check that everything was fine and then work on his unfinished business. He didn’t really have to halt in front of the shop, waver and then step inside.

It had snowed the night before, so he took his time cleaning his boots on the doormat. He noticed Mr. Kang greeting him and staring at him, but he kept his eyes to his feet till he was finished.

“Mr. Song, how may I serve you?”

Mino stayed silent as he studied the endearing flush on his cheeks. “Have you been outside?”

“Ah”, he rubbed his nape, smiling. “I had to stock some soil bags in the store. There is a yard in between”.

“I see”. Mino thought that he should wear red more often, it suited him. The stark contrast with his pale skin made him more… tempting.

“So, are you here to buy something? I… I didn’t think you would be the type who likes flowers”. He hesitated, his hands fiddling with a daisy on the counter. Mino found it cute.

“I don’t”. Mr. Kang raised his eyes to look at him, then. Mino held his stare, grinning. He could feel his insides twist as that moment stretched and lasted for a while. For more than it was proper.

Mr. Kang was the first to look away, again. He coughed and dipped his head as he covered his mouth with his hand.

“But I thought I might bring some flowers to my sister. Those Jinwoo used to buy for her”.

“He didn’t have a regular pattern”, the florist went back to his composure, hiding behind his work. “He used to change with his mood. But he liked primroses because of their meaning”. He showed him those flowers. “Eternal love”.

“Give me a bouquet”.

He started working on it, neatly placing each flower next to the previous one. Without looking at Mino, he asked: “So, why don’t you like them? The flowers, I mean”.

Mino smiled at him, unnoticed. “It’s not like that. I think everyone would agree that they’re beautiful. But that beauty withers when you pick it. It’s not made for humans’ touch”.

He knew already that he was poisonous. Nothing would live under his touch. Was it flowers or something entirely different.

Now Mino was sure: he wouldn’t go back here, not once more. He had been tempted, but there was no reason to taint such beauty with his lustful desires. He would not have it.

“So you prefer letting it be. That’s civil”, Mr. Kang said, his long fingers wrapping the flowers in a white thick paper. “But that’s how life is, don’t you know? Everything has its end. Even beauty”. He paused, thinking. “Maybe you didn’t have someone to share flowers with, that’s why you never liked them”.

Mino tensed, his brow furrowing, and Mr. Kang realized what he had implied as he looked at him. Or mostly, to whom he had talked. “I… I am sorry, Mr. Song. I didn’t mean to-“

“It’s ok”. Mino wrapped his hand around the bouquet, brushing his fingers still clamped around it. At that, Mr. Kang jolted. “Just give me this”.

“It… it’s on the house”, he stuttered.

“Like it should be”.

“What are these?”

“Don’t you see by yourself?”

Danah studied him warily, taking the bouquet in her hand. “You know I’ve never cared about these things. I accepted Jinwoo’s only because it was him”.

Mino chuckled hollowly. They were too similar for their own good. “I am sorry I wanted to do something for you”.

“You know what would make me feel better”, she pointed out, spiteful.

“I know. I’ll try to take care of it as soon as I can. I promise you”.

Of course only revenge could calm her down. There was nothing else that could let her sleep comfortably. He knew it too well, because they were just the same. Knowing that Jinwoo had left that world because someone had murdered him was enough to make her blood boil, like it had happened years ago, when their mother had been killed by one of their cousins. The man wanted to take her place in the family business, but Mino and Danah didn’t let that happen.

Mino knew how Danah felt. He could see the burning need of revenge, a curse that could not leave her body alone. He saw the fire in her. She had opened her heart to Jinwoo, let him make her know what love and joy were. All those happy memories fed her anger.

Mino was just like her. And Danah was just like Mino.

“What was the thing that made you fall for him? There must be something, right at the beginning”. Mino found himself asking, hoping to understand himself through her.

“You’re acting weird, you know”, Danah glanced at him, then at the flowers in her hand. “This is not like you”.

“I guess you won’t tell me”, he pretended he didn’t care.

“Must it be something? Just one thing?”, she said then. “I just felt it with my whole self: I wanted that man”. She got closer and wound her arm around him, side-hugging him as she looked at him intently. “He was nothing like me. It couldn’t possibly work between us. But you can’t really fight against it: when a Song wants, a Song gets”.

Mino guessed he was doomed.

*

“I keep staying in position, studying their movements from there. But Mr. Song approached me the other day. I think… he might be interested”.

“You checked his file, didn’t you? He’s not only the worst scum out there, he’s also a faggot”.

“What should I do?”

“Everything needed”.

Seungyoon nodded quietly. “For that other problem…”

“We’ll use it for our own profit”.

Seungyoon’s bedroom was right above the shop. Its window opened to the street and was in front of the Songs’ house. From there he could watch without worrying about being discovered: he hid behind the curtain and observed their movements.

Seungyoon was neat and precise in everything he did, so he wrote down every person who entered or left that house, and if he could he even took note of the time they spent in there. He put that diary under a tile of the floor, in the left corner of the bed.

When it was time to open the shop, Seungyoon would put on the uniform he used for work and go downstairs. There he would take care of the flowers as much as he could, and keep an eye on the house as he kept writing down all their movements on the shop register. He used a code made of numbers, so that it would look like counts to the casual reader.

His life was quiet and not that dangerous, for being a cop undercover.

But it was going to change.

Mr. Song had been there three times.

The first one, Seungyoon had been too agitated to really talk. He knew he should try to hook him somehow, to make a good impression, in order to be a step closer to the enemy. But he barely said what was proper to the etiquette.

Mr. Song had a charisma he had rarely seen in other men. You could easily see how he was ready to snap and eat you in a moment, like a predator, like that was his own nature. Seungyoon had no doubt he was the boss of the clan, the real one. Others were attracted by such a man, even if they feared him.

The second time, Seungyoon had learnt the weight of his stare. He thought he would melt and confess under his eyes, but then Mr. Song had held back, and in that Seungyoon saw he was human just like him. He noticed how troubled he was as he lit a cigarette and started smoking. Even he had weakness.

The last time, Seungyoon had been the troubled one. He could not help the warmth spreading in his body as Mr. Song looked at him, while the tension between them grew in the silence. Seungyoon was sure he would leap and take him right there, but then he retreated like the first time. And now Seungyoon couldn’t stop his own curiosity, as he asked things and talked with him.

He thought Mr. Song was someone ruthless. A man without honour. But all he could see was someone who was just scared to give in to his own desires. He didn’t trust easily. He feared he might ruin even the slightest hint of an interaction.

He couldn’t hide his attraction, his intent stare, but he didn’t want to flail.

_It should be that way_ , Seungyoon thought. If Mr. Song ended up wanting him, he would only break his heart.

The fourth time took Seungyoon by surprise.

He had seen Mr. Song lingering in front of his shop few times, without taking the next step and just looking at him through the glass. He had seemed unsure of what to do, unable to choose. Hence Seungyoon didn’t expect to find him there, that day.

He had been in the backyard, checking whether he had enough pots for that week, and when he came back to the shop, Mr. Song stood there.

“Hello… have you been waiting for a long time?”

He shook his head. He looked tired, even though his black eyes were as hard and intense as the other times.

It was late afternoon but, being winter, it was dark like it was already night. Seungyoon glanced outside, to buy him some time. “It’s starting snowing once again”.

“Mr. Kang”.

That was the first time he called his name. There was despair and need in his voice. Seungyoon turned to look at him, unable to not do so.

“They say a Song gets everything he wants. I know this might be rushed. I know it is, but I can’t help it”, he stepped closer and the room seemed even darker as he got closer. Seungyoon felt a cold shiver running down his spine, even though he was pretty sure the heating was still on.

“I _want_ you, Mr. Kang”.

Seungyoon swallowed, trying to fight the lump in his throat. He wasn’t supposed to feel this way.

Mr. Song got even closer, and Seungyoon blessed the counter for being between them. He couldn’t bear his stare, but at the same time he wasn’t able to look away, not this time. “Me?”, he whispered.

“I know it’s absurd, we saw each other few times. I trust this is just a whim, a hunger I can easily satiate”, he stopped, unsure. “I am not used to no as an answer, but I won’t pressure you… I trust this will end as soon as I have you”.

Seungyoon balled his hands in fists, divided by the irrational part of him that was let down by knowing that Mr. Song wanted just to use him and his body, and the most logical part of him that screamed to use that chance to get closer to him. Yet, it could be hard to work like that: what if Mr. Song wouldn’t talk to him anymore? He needed to acquire information and that would not do. But if this worked differently, if Mr. Song would fall for his temptation more than once…

“I always let the others take what is beautiful in this world. I have never dared reach for it. I know I don’t deserve it. It wouldn’t last, I am not made for this. I am a man who always brings destruction”, Mr. Song looked truly conflicted, this time. “I didn’t mean to… offend you with my proposal”.

Seungyoon knew that behind his apparent beauty there was ugliness and lies. He was just a mirror for that man who felt unworthy. He wasn’t better than him, right now.

He might look like an innocent white flower, but he was a red rose ready to thorn him and make him bleed.

Seungyoon wasn’t even sure why he was hesitating this much. He shouldn’t even take in consideration his feelings. This was work. He had promised he would do everything he could.

He bit his lips and tilted his head, faking embarrassment. The tremble of his voice was true, though. “My bedroom is upstairs”.

Seungyoon didn’t know what to expect.

He led Mr. Song to his room, fear taking him all at once. He could feel his guts twisting at the idea of sharing his bed with this man. He wasn’t sure he was ready, no matter what he had promised on his honour of policeman to do everything necessary. His boss had been glad to hear that, but he didn’t count: he was a bastard without principles.

Seungyoon could feel the tension in every joint of his body.

He sat on the bed and quaked when the mattress dipped under Mr. Song’s weight. He looked outside, one more time for buying time: the snow was still falling, white tears to cover the greyness of the world. Snow always made everything more silent, quieter.

Seungyoon could hear his own heartbeat in that noiseless storm.

He made himself turn to look at him. The room was dark, the only feeble light coming from outside, and in that obscurity Mr. Song didn’t look as scary as he usually did. Even if great shadows were casted on his body and his face was a living chiaroscuro, all blacks and whites that cut it in sections, Seungyoon found himself wavering at his obvious attractiveness.

His heart thumped harder when Mr. Song slid a hand on his face, tentatively. It wasn’t fear. He _wanted_.

“Mr. Song, I…”

“Mino”. His voice was deep and raw and sent tingles to Seungyoon’s lower parts.

Seungyoon raised a hand and touched his cheek, sheepishly. He didn’t know if he could. Mino let him. He stroked his thumb on his brow, rested it near his eye as he stared at him. Seungyoon had never seen such eyes: dark, honest, they had a pull on him that he could not go against.

Seungyoon was surprised by how slowly he was going, but not in an unpleasant way. Being someone like Mr. Song didn’t mean he would be cruel and disrespectful in bed, he realized.

“Mino…”, he whispered. The man grinned at that, predatory. Pleased. “Isn’t this the time you kiss me?”

He chuckled. “I’ve never seen someone this fearless, ordering me around”. Seungyoon was afraid he made a mistake. “Even last time you were without boundaries”, he smiled, white teeth flashing in the dim light, making Seungyoon falter. “I am not sure I like it, but it’s appealing”, he said on his lips.

Seungyoon opened his mouth to welcome his kiss. There was a faint taste of smoke on his tongue, but that didn’t lessen Seungyoon’s pleasure. Mino was soft at first, lazily tasting him as his hands cupped his face. He nibbled his lower lip and smiled against his mouth as Seungyoon found the courage to circle his arms around him and press him closer.

Then Mino pinned him to the wall behind the bed, his knees dipping in the mattress as he kept Seungyoon in place. He tilted his head and kissed him again, this time hungrily.

Seungyoon was glad he had something he could steady himself with: his hands gripping Mino’s shoulders and his back against the cold wall behind, he moaned in the kiss and enjoyed the burning passion Mino put even in the simplest move. It might be defeating, but Seungyoon found it charming. 

He panted hard as they broke apart for a moment, trying to store more air than he could as he felt dizzy, his head spinning for the long kiss. He looked up, meeting his dark eyes. There was pure want in them. Seungyoon knew he was just the same.

He _wanted_ him.

Mino leaned in, stealing another kiss from him. This time, Seungyoon let his hands roam on his wide back, tracing the curves of his muscles, halting at his hipbones. He squeezed his hands around them, pulling him closer as they kissed heatedly. He gasped when his erection met his one, friction driving him crazy.

Mino bit back a moan, his wet mouth on the skin of his cheek when Seungyoon rolled his hips and sent sparkles of pleasure to both of them. “K-Kang Seungyoon”, he said, nestling his head in the crook of his neck.

Seungyoon moved again and Mino bit his skin along with it. “Can I…?”

Seungyoon found himself wanting it: he didn’t know how he would face himself tomorrow, when the marks would be evident in his reflection, when this would have ended already but guilt would linger for much longer… Seungyoon told himself he was playing a part, and the Kang Seungyoon he was now wanted it.

He nodded.

Mino sucked his skin, on and on, leaving red hickeys on his pale complexion. Seungyoon bucked his hips, demanding Mino would feel as shaken as him. Mino panted hard, his hands clasping his sides as he kept marking his neck.

When he was satisfied, he started unbuttoning his shirt, tugging it out from his pants. “I think red really suits you”, he looked up, staring at his lips and the flush of his cheeks, then down to the fresh marks he had left.

Seungyoon tried to not smile, but failed. He wanted to break free from there, digging his feet in the mattress and trying to prop himself up, but Mino kept him in place, his strong legs at his sides holding Seungyoon there.

“If we stay like this I can’t get undressed”, Seungyoon pointed out. Mino chuckled at this.

“Do you want me to rush it?”

Seungyoon blushed at his words. Well, maybe. Maybe he wanted this to end soon, not because it would change the act between them, or lessen his guilt, but because he couldn’t just wait much longer. He wanted to feel him inside.

Seungyoon wasn’t sure honesty was the right choice. But Mino found it appealing, anyway. “I just want you. You’re not the only one with needs here”.

Mino cracked a dazzling smile. For a moment, Seungyoon wished the light was on: like this, he couldn’t see well if his tanned skin had turned darker at that. Not that Mr. Song could probably blush, he reasoned.

Mino drew back just enough to let him move. Seungyoon missed the warmth of his presence against his skin, but thought it was silly. He moved his fingers quickly and neatly, like always. He dropped the shirt on the floor and then undid his belt and let his pants fall next to it.

When he turned to look at Mino, he found him staring at him, a smirk on his lips. Seungyoon questioned him with his look and the man just shrugged his shoulders, apparently mesmerized by what he was seeing. Seungyoon looked at him as he pulled his briefs down and kicked them away.

“May… I serve you, Mr. Song?”, he slid his hands on his suit, tugging the jacket away. This was what he was doing for him: fulfilling his needs just one time. Mino tensed at his joke, like he felt guilty about it, but then Seungyoon covered his mouth with his own, and he relaxed against him.

When the last cloth was finally away and forgotten, Seungyoon looked at him and gasped at the beauty of his muscled body. Even the scars that dotted his torso and bulky thighs were just another ornament on his tanned skin. He gaped at his dark-brown nipples, the prominent veins running on his forearms and on his groin, the expanse of black hair above his erection. He wavered at that and felt himself hardening the more he stared, and when he dared look at him in the eye again, he knew Mino had observed him all along.

Seungyoon saw there was no doubt in him. He found himself small, lost in the need of having him. He was shocked by himself, but he couldn’t fight those feelings.

He laid back and spread his legs before him. Mino took that as a chance to study him one more time, a smile lighting his face as he scanned his body with his hands and stopped at his mouth. He let out a small pleased grunt when he brushed his fingers on his swollen lips and Seungyoon licked them.

Mino invited him to suck on them and Seungyoon complied, engulfing the fingers inside his wet mouth. He almost chuckled as he caught Mino staring at him, hypnotized, but didn’t have the strength to make fun of him now. All he could think of was the need coursing inside him, destroying his last lucid thought.

Mino grunted once more, pushing against his ass as Seungyoon coated his fingers carefully. Looking at him to ask if he was ready, Seungyoon just nodded and wrapped his thighs around Mino, pleading.

Mino splayed his hands on his inner thighs, hooking at his ass. He gingerly pressed a wet digit inside him, taking his time to move. Seungyoon thought he would never go faster and whined, his hands reaching for him. Mino inserted another finger, curling its tip to make Seungyoon squirm.

He panted hard, the creaking of the bed under them echoing in the room. There was still unnatural silence all around, the snow taking out all the noise of the world. Seungyoon was sure there was no one besides the two of them in the whole universe. Not in that moment. Not in that peace.

There were only Mino’s raspy breath and Seungyoon’s whines.

“Closer…”

When he was sure Seungyoon was stretched enough, Mino moved his hand away and rubbed his cock against him, instead. He used his spit to lube his length and pressed the head on his entrance, teasing it. Seungyoon grumbled and at that Mino, gripping his hips, lurched forward and penetrated him.

Seungyoon cried at loud, unsure whether for the pain or the pleasure. He wanted him even closer, so much closer… Mino pushed deeper and hunched his back to kiss his nipple, his neck, his jaw.

When Seungyoon was sure he couldn’t bear to wait an instant more, he moved again. And again. And again. Every time making Seungyoon a little less able to hold back, to suppress the moans and the need he felt inside.

Mino hugged him and pulled him closer, propping himself on his knees as he tried to sit them back on the mattress. Seungyoon followed him, helping him as much as he could in that haze. He pressed Mino on the wall and kissed him voraciously, being sure he would taste every inch of his mouth.

And then Mino moved upward, inviting him to ride him. Seungyoon complied, rolling his hips, pursuing his own pleasure with every thrust.

He arched his back, enjoying Mino’s strong hands wrapped around his hips, assuring he wouldn’t slip away, and dug his nails in his short black hair. As his pace grew erratic, Mino held him close and pounded inside him, being sure his whole length was sheathed within Seungyoon.

That drove him crazy: the pleasure he felt by being filled by him.

He screamed as Mino came inside him, the orgasm shaking his entire body.

*

Mino finished buttoning his waistcoat and reached for the jacket, which was at several feet from the bed. When he was all dressed, he looked at Mr. Kang… _Seungyoon_ , sleeping peacefully, an arm under his pillow while the other was at his side. He was pouting, mumbling something Mino couldn’t understand.

Seungyoon had fallen asleep soon, after dragging Mino along, his arms seizing his back as he lied down on the bed. Mino had wondered if it was that easy being comfortable with him, for Seungyoon. Maybe it had been because of how weary and drowsy he was, but Seungyoon didn’t seem to mind showing that sort of familiarity with him. Even if they were just two strangers.

Seungyoon turned in his sleep, kicking the sheet aside, and Mino lingered a little longer, his eyes fixed on the hickeys he had felt like leaving on his skin. When he was with whores, he didn’t mark them, even if he knew they would not complain, because he was a special costumer and it was better to not upset him.

Mino didn’t leave traces of him, lingering feels, anything at all. He was coldly impersonal.

Seungyoon sighed, cuddling the pillow, searching for some warmth. Mino had been there, next to him, for longer than he thought it was proper. He had enjoyed it: his limbs tangled with Seungyoon’s, him nuzzling in his chest, the quiet of the world around.

He _had_ to go.

Mino gave him his back and walked away. He stopped only when he was at the door. The snow storm had come to a halt and the whole street was covered in a white blanket that deadened every one of his steps.

When Mino entered Songs’ hideout, what was left was a trail of his footsteps on the fresh snow as a reminder.

For a while, everything was quiet.

Mino didn’t know if it was for snow, slowing down the city pace and turning everything different, like it belonged to another world, but those days passed rather leisurely.

Their business was doing fine, after the Christmas boom, and there was nothing to complain about even when they didn’t sell all their goods as fast as in December.

But then, there were things Mino couldn’t ignore for much longer. As soon as he turned his eye from the business and looked back at his family, at Danah, he knew he still had a lot of work to do. He couldn’t let that problem hang on, or she would take care of it, no matter at what cost.

The policemen he had talked with didn’t help him at all in confirming whether it was Kim brothers’ fault, and if that was the case he had to attack the whole family and put them down definitely. He couldn’t let any of them be; revenge would be their natural answer.

To him, that seemed pretty ordinary when compared to the tumult he had inside. He was used to deal with other clans or start a war, but he wasn’t used to _this_.

He had thought that if he followed his whim and took what he desired, everything would fall into place. He had tried resisting for a while, after their third encounter, but that would do no good. When he set his mind on something, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. And even if he didn’t think it was a good idea to give in, he told himself that it was safe for just one time. If he treated it like it was nothing, like it was a one night stand, there would be no unwanted damage, right?

Mino was sure about that. He was smart enough, he said himself. It made so much sense.

And yet…

It wasn’t like that. At all.

When work halted for a while and he looked outside, the snow piling up day by day, his mind wouldn’t stop wandering and go back to him. If he closed his eyes, he could still see him: his brown curious stare and his tempting lips, and his lean body, so light in his arms. When Mino let himself linger on that vision a little longer, he could feel his mouth against his own, and the warmth of his hug, and his nails digging in his scalp.

Mino craved for more, no matter if that meant to taint that beauty.

It was colder that night and Mino bent in his coat, dipping his head in the high-collared neck to avoid the freezing wafts of air. He walked faster, cursing at the weather as his hand fumbled in his pocket, searching for the keys.

He was sure they were there, somewhere.

He raised his head as he noticed a movement with the corner of his eye and saw Seungyoon standing in front of his shop. When their eyes met, Seungyoon turned around as quickly as he could and walked away, shaking his head and waggling his arms to not slip on the icy snow.

Mino didn’t even pause to think when he followed him, rushing to catch up on him. It didn’t matter if he was almost breaking his neck when his foot slipped on the ice, what counted was that he managed to reach him and pull him by his elbow, leading him to the nearest alley he found.

Seungyoon tugged his arm, trying to get free, but Mino wouldn’t have it.

“I…”

Seungyoon looked so alluring, even in the dim yellow light of the street lamp: his lips were slightly parched, but redder than usual, and his puffy cheeks were flushed for the cold. Mino wished he could look at him for a very, very long time.

Instead, he started talking. “I made a mistake. Maybe several. I thought I was right, that’s a sort of professional deformation. You know…”

“You usually don’t accept a no as an answer”, Seungyoon said sarcastically.

Mino smirked. “I suppose I’m always right. And well, this must sound very cocky of me”.

“Quite”. He frowned, but couldn’t hide a small smile. Mino loosened his hold on his arm and slid down, till he met his hand and gripped it. Seungyoon looked amused.

“So, I’m no good at admitting I made a mistake. I usually assure everything is flawless and there is no scope for mistakes. But people can lie to themselves. And I did”.

Seungyoon’s smile got wider.

“What I mean is… I thought I just wanted you, that I would be satisfied with just one night stand. Well, I want more. I want to try that… so, if you accept it, please be strong and ready to bear me”.

“You mean you and your not so legal activity?” Mino nodded. “And the fact that you probably hit more people than my fingers can count?” He nodded again, that was all true. “And also that you’re supposed to be a bastard, a scary man ready to mess with my life, but all I can think of is the man I shared my bed with?”

Mino looked at him, hopeful. Seungyoon just gripped his hand tightly, brushing his thumb on his skin.

Mino pulled him closer and circled his waist with his other arm, making their bodies meet. He breathed hard, his nose just few inches to Seungyoon’s. “I’m not that good with these things… if I am too bossy, you can just point it out, like you already do”.

“You’re doing fine for me”, Seungyoon raised a hand to stroke his cheek, his smile fading a bit as he looked at him. It was just like he couldn’t believe this was real, uncertainty mixing with happiness in the same moment. Mino could see that on his face.

He leaned in and pecked his lips. Seungyoon responded to that, throwing his arms around his neck and pulling him so much closer, his lips squeezing Mino’s upper one before he deepened the kiss. Mino tightened his grip around his waist and tilted his head, giving him better access.

With him in his arms, Mino didn’t feel the cold air of the night.

*

Seungyoon couldn’t believe Mino had fallen for him, after all.

He had to admit that a part of himself had dawdled more than necessary on the moments they had shared together, remembering how good he had felt and how pleasure had turned him in someone else, right under Mino’s touch. And that part of him believed, maybe hoped, that Song Mino felt the same, to the point he would come back to him.

Seungyoon had seen it in the way he had been with him, that late afternoon. Those were things he couldn’t hide.

Then there was his rational side that kept telling him it was fortunate Mino would come back, because he had to get some insights of the Song family now that he finally knew someone within the organization. And not _just_ someone.

He sighed, rolling on his side to look at him: he was sleeping, snoring lightly, his brow furrowed and his lips parted. He looked so vulnerable, like this… sometimes Seungyoon had to remind himself he was there to put this man behind bars. ( _And after that, he would despise him for the rest of his life_ ; but that, Seungyoon didn’t say).

Uncaring about his nudity, he got up and went to the window, looking at the street half-covered in iced snow. The street lamp cast a halo of yellow, but the rest was in the dark. Seungyoon shivered, now missing the warmth of the bed and Mino’s arms wrapped around him. The latter had told him he didn’t usually sleep with others, it was too intimate for his liking, but since he and Seungyoon agreed to be together, he would give it a try.

The first time Seungyoon caught him pretending to sleep and dared pinch his cheek. “Relax”. After a while, he really did. There was something no one could resist in sharing the same tiny space, the same blanket, the same warmth; even Mino was no different from others.

Seungyoon hugged himself involuntarily, trying to shake away the cold he felt inside. He walked back to the bed but didn’t lie down, stopping to look at him sleeping.

Seungyoon couldn’t help but feel like there was something completely wrong with him and everything had started since Mr. Song stepped in his shop. He couldn’t believe he would waver so easily. He would not change his mind because of him, not when he knew he was in the right, but he felt things he couldn’t suppress as easily as he wanted.

He told himself it was because Mino was nice to him, even if he could have few edges that needed some smoothening. He was always taking it slowly, even when he wanted something with all his heart, waiting for Seungyoon to give his consensus. He was strong, assertive even, but never vicious.

And he was incredibly hot, Seungyoon must admit, no matter how shallow that could sound. He knew humans are weak to beauty and he couldn’t believe Mino had thought about him in those terms, not when he was the one who could effortlessly shine and pull all his eyes on him.

Besides, the more they had sex, the more Seungyoon found how compatible they were. In a way it hurt: because he had thought he had loved someone before, but nothing he had shared with that person could compare with the feel Mino could ignite in him just with his body.

Seungyoon hated this.

He tilted his head, biting his lip as he studied his figure: the well-toned chest, the hand clutching at the blanket, the thick neck and… Mino opened his eyes and looked at him.

Seungyoon couldn’t help the little jump of surprise he made and the rush of warmth gushing through his body, going straight to his cock. Mino was staring at him with his dark, predatory eyes and, without even having a moment to say something, Seungyoon found himself dragged on the bed. Mino’s hand was on his arm and the other was on the small of his back, guiding him to sit on his chest.

Seungyoon feared that he if he spoke he would break the spell of that moment, so he just stared at him with a questioning look. Mino shook his head and slid his hands on his hips, pulling him closer. He kissed his inner thigh, his mouth wet and open as he nibbled and sucked the skin.

Seungyoon fisted his hair and melted under his touch.

“I checked all their movements. The heart of the family is not that large, there around ten people who visit the house quite often. They’re all related somehow, cousins or brothers-in-law and stuff like that. The true boss among them is Song Mino. He’s the leader, the type of person who people would follow. But he’s also got the brain”.

Seungyoon thought of Mino and his own way to get around things and get them. He was indeed a charmer, able to play everything in his favour and change the game with a simple move. Seungyoon had to try his best to not fall into it. He knew that one misstep could jeopardize his mission.

He was pretty sure Mino had already checked his background, but there was nothing that could link him to the police. Nothing that could put him in danger. He was no one for the Republic of Korea, just another boy from the countryside. Mino must have started trusting him, even if he needed time, like Seungyoon had expected.

He couldn’t explain how much it hurt to feel genuine happiness for being able to make Song Mino smile; how good it was to wonder about him and ask questions that didn’t feel like an interrogatory, but were out of genuine curiosity.

Mino had wanted to know why Seungyoon had become a florist. “In my case I have decided to help my mother a long time ago, you know, this is always been family business”, he had said.

“Mine… quite the same. My grandfather owned a vivarium, so I’ve learnt the tricks from him”. Seungyoon didn’t say that he lived with him because his father had been killed when he was a kid. He didn’t say that after all, everything he had done was just to get a bit of justice in this world. And everything was, in the end, family business.

“They have this sort of family bond that will make them take care of each other. Literally. I’m sure they are planning to avenge the death of Kim Jinwoo, killed the night of December 20. He was Song Danah’s husband. She’d been convicted for assault once”.

He had actually met her once.

Mino tried to avoid any show of affection in public, he didn’t want people to think there was something between the two of them. He said only his kin could know about Seungyoon, and with caution. But he could not hide the proud smile he had when he brought Danah to the shop.

“So this is where Jinwoo came all the time”.

Seungyoon had tensed up a little at the name, but Danah seemed fine enough. She looked around, recognizing one by one the flowers her husband had bought to her.

“He had a kind heart. That’s something the world hates. Everything is rough and tough, there is no space for beautiful tender things”, she said to Seungyoon, after checking every corner of the shop. Her hand was on his shoulder, squeezing it hard. “That’s why sometimes people like me must act”.

“You make it sound like some heroic stuff”, Mino had scoffed.

Seungyoon thought it was, in its own distorted way. He knew better than anyone what was suffering for a loss no one could compensate for, feeling a hole inside that was so hard to fill, day by day, while living. Some wounds didn’t stop to ache, even when the scar left was fading; they did deep down, where no one could see it.

“She’s ready to snap anytime. If there is someone who could make Song Mino act impulsively, that’s his sister. She’s the one who would drag them all along. She’s strong, but unfocused… blinded by the pain, the loss…”

“So do you think she’s the one who could make Mr. Song make a move?”, his boss wrote down something on his notebook, swiftly.

For a moment Seungyoon hated him and wished he could just abort the mission and get away from this man without any hint of humanity, if not for the constant obsessive drive to arrest every criminal around. Then Seungyoon told himself that he was no different: this was the kind of justice he had decided to pursue, when he was a lonely kid and there was no comfort he could seek, not even with his grandfather by his side or in the flowers his grandfather made blossom day by day.

This was he had chosen for himself. And no matter how much he hoped this wasn’t the case, Song Mino was a criminal.

“Indeed”.

“I see”.

*

Seungyoon skimmed his hand on the desk, a grin ghosting on his lips. “So this is where you decide everything”. Mino nodded, following him with his eyes as he moved around his studio, determined to make him comfortable there even if he was itching to control every one of his moves.

Mino had a hard time in trusting other people. It was a given, with his profession: he could only count on his blood and beware the others, and even like that it could be hard. One wrong step and he could end up in jail or killed by one of the others clans. It was a thin equilibrium he always had to keep in check.

He hadn’t meant to trust Seungyoon. Not more than necessary, not more than he should with a person he was only starting to know. He had never had such things as lovers, only quickly encounters and whores and things that could only be a quick fix to his needs. None of those could ever touch him if not like the lukewarm brush of something far away.

Seungyoon was different. Since the moment he had understood he wanted more than those few hours shared together for mere passion, everything Mino believed had turned in falsehood. He had found out that he could soothe the constant unhappiness he felt in his guts, that if he wanted he could try to have something more, something that could touch him, burning him in just an instant.

Maybe it was the first time he fell asleep in Seungyoon’s arms or maybe the time he realized he wanted to know about him, sincerely, but Mino had learnt that he wanted it all. Everything Seungyoon could offer him.

And in that he had started to lean on him. And trust him. And crave for a happiness that could only exist with the two of them together.

“These are the books were we write down the money we make”, Mino showed Seungyoon, flipping the pages so quickly that it was impossible to read a thing. “It’s something tedious, isn’t it?”, he smirked playfully.

Seungyoon nodded and looked at him, hesitating for a little while before rubbing his hand on his cheek. Mino had noticed that sometimes Seungyoon looked distant, lost in thoughts or memories that Mino couldn’t reach, wavering for a reason he couldn’t grasp. He had assumed he was just like him, in this: sometimes Mino needed time to withhold the control-freak he might be or stayed in silence for a long time, mulling over what to do with his sister, and Seungyoon would understand that as much as he did with him.

“Did you ever use this room in an inappropriate way?”, Seungyoon’s eyes glinted with mischief and Mino grinned at him, leaning in to his touch, his hand snaking on his side to settle on his hip. “Not yet…”

Just as Seungyoon tilted his head to kiss him, the door was burst open and Mino abruptly shifted away, leaving Seungyoon’s side. He was glad to see it was only Seunghoon, but he soon got alarmed as he noticed the bruises on his face and how hard he was panting. “Did you fight?”

Seunghoon rubbed his palm on his mouth, wiping away few drops of blood, and then tried to stand up straight and talk. “We… we went to the pub down in the other area, me and Jiseok, there was live music tonight… and well, we sat at the counter and there was a man at my right… I thought I’d seen him somewhere. He was drunk and he was blabbering around about how he had seen the Christmas ghost haunting him in his dreams”.

Mino clenched his jaw and fisted his hands, tensing up as a bad feel spread inside him. Seungyoon stroked his back gently, to show him he was there for him. His eyes were on Seunghoon, though.

“So I just realized he was one of Kim brothers’ men. And I couldn’t help but get closer as he blabbered about this... ghost”, Seunghoon looked away for a moment, frowning. He talked slowly then: “He said he couldn’t sleep at night because he could see his big eyes staring at him. He said he remembered his whines as–“

Mino grabbed his shoulder and pulled him closer, but without anger. He just needed to know and be sure about it. Facts before feelings. He could feel the fire creeping out on him, but he pushed it away. “Tell me everything”.

Seunghoon wavered for a moment before looking at him in the eye. “So I got up and went to ask him about it. I was calm, you know me. Nothing can get me. He said he saw it… Kim Hanbin… kicking him… and then Jiseok was at him and he recognized us… it was a mess, I just tried to contain it. I took the man away, there were too many prying eyes there. I dragged him to an alley and asked him to tell us everything, promising him he would live if he spoke the truth. So he confessed he saw Jinwoo being beaten by his bosses, Kim Hanbin and Kim Jiwon. He said they dragged his unconscious body to the Han River… he helped them and… so Jiseok went a bit crazy and I had to stop him before he hurt him even more”.

Mino covered his eyes with a hand, taking few moments to get hold of the situation. Jinwoo had been killed by those bastards. He could feel the rage surging in his body, but he was too stubborn to let it rule him now.

Danah should not know, not now, he had to think of a plan before telling her the truth. She was determined and thirst for blood, and this was no good when there were things you cared about. Mino didn’t want the family to lose more than they could live without; and he didn’t want to lose Danah, more than anything else.

_A Song never dies quietly_ , but Mino wished she would just skip the whole ‘dying’ part. It was fine to burn and destroy, as long as there was one last thread that kept you anchored to life.

“You did well”, Mino patted Seunghoon’s shoulder. “Tend to Jiseok while I go take a walk… I need to clear my thoughts before talking to Danah”. Seunghoon agreed promptly.

Mino turned to Seungyoon who was lost in his own thoughts. He looked at him as soon as Mino put his hand on his shoulder, and smiled sheepishly.

“Let’s go”.

Mino wanted to be with him when he made a decision.

*

Mino seemed troubled and Seungyoon was no better than him.

They walked for a while, side by side, aimlessly. Seungyoon was glad Mino didn’t want to talk at the moment, and he hadn’t expected anything different from him. Mino was pretty obvious in his disarray and anger: his mouth thinned in a wince and his shoulders crooked downward, he walked briskly, without even looking where he was going. Seungyoon followed him, lost in his own thoughts.

This was the opportunity his boss was waiting for: a perfect way to get rid of the Songs, and maybe cut the Kim brothers’ lines down. Seungyoon should have been happy his days as an undercover agent were coming to an end.

Seungyoon gulped when he felt Mino’s hand sliding on his arm and intertwining with his. He gripped hard, a sudden need to feel Mino closer surging inside him. There were so many things he should say, so many he wasn’t supposed to… Seungyoon found it difficult to stay silent, when all he wanted was to confess. All of his faults and plans.

“Do you think it’s appropriate to attack them before a wedding?” Seungyoon shook his head, surprised. “That’s the only moment we’re sure to catch them together”.

Seungyoon wanted to say that this was going to be the end of him, even if speaking meant he would betray his country and his honour as a policeman, and break Mino’s heart in the process. Instead he said: “Then that’s the right moment to strike. Just when they don’t expect it”.

Mino smiled, proud of himself, and then stroke his hair lovingly. “I must trust someone so good at making me flail… you must be good at ambushing people”.

Seungyoon wished he wasn’t.

“It’s gonna be next Tuesday”.

“Great, you’ve worked hard”.

Seungyoon wanted to erase the sly grin spreading on his boss’ face.

Seungyoon wasn’t that surprised when time flew in a blink of an eye and, without even having a moment of rest, D-day arrived.

It was hard for him when Mino came to visit him the night before, but he had endured for the promise he made to himself every night before falling asleep, when he was a kid. That he would make everything right and make the world a better place, starting from the smallest things and the simplest actions.

This was a mission like others and Song Mino was the scum he needed to arrest. This was a mission like others and Song Mino was the scum he needed to arrest. This was…

Seungyoon had crumbled in the way Mino had told him goodbye, half joking about how he would come back to him anyway, because there wasn’t a fight that Song Mino couldn’t win. His hands had snuggled on his nape as he kissed him as he nibbled on his lips gently. Seungyoon hadn’t thought much when he hugged him and put all of himself in that kiss, his nails digging in his back, his tongue delving in Mino’s mouth.

Seungyoon sighed and looked out of the window, checking the family’s movements: Seunghoon was coming out from the house, followed by another man Seungyoon only knew slightly.

He waited and waited, till he was sure no one was left. Then he got dressed and completed his outfit by slipping under his clothes the gun he had hidden so well beneath the false bottom of his closet.

Entering the house was easy, it didn’t require much effort to unlock the door and just sneak inside. Seungyoon wasn’t sure if there was someone guarding the place, so he grabbed the gun and then climbed the stairs to go the headquarters. He walked slowly through the big hall on the first floor, looking around furtively.

“What are you doing here?”

Seungyoon almost jolted at that, but managed to collect himself and smile gently at the man at his right. He kept the gun close to his body, hiding it from him. “I was looking for Mr. Song… I guess he’s not here”.

At that name the man loosened up a little. “Mr. Song is outside for business. You should come back another day”.

Seungyoon nodded, trying to look understanding but a little disappointed. The man kept staring at him warily, so Seungyoon pretended to walk away, unsure of what to do. Fidgeting with the gun still in his hand, he turned around and fired, aiming at the window next to the man, which raised his arms in instinct to protect his face. Seungyoon charged and tackled him, seizing his waist and dragging him on the floor and the glass fragments.

“You bast–”

Seungyoon pressed his forearm on his neck, choking him. He searched for the handcuffs in his pockets and secured him to a heavy cabinet. Then he headed to Mino’s office and gathered all the proofs he needed to make sure he would not leave jail for a very long time.

His boss had told him that they’ll let the fight be for a while and then try to catch both parties all at once, taking advantage of the situation. Take two birds with one stone, how great that was. Seungyoon should feel overjoyed by the notion of being the one who told them the location, day and hour and help his colleagues catch such criminals.

And yet, while he quickened his pace to reach the police station sooner, he worried himself about the outcome. He prayed Mino wouldn’t be hurt before the police broke into that place. 

He didn’t have a police ID and he had never met his boss at the police station before, but only in random places they decided daily, so he had to wait for him to get the access to get inside. He did it impatiently, hoping that man would just hurry up and free him from the burden he was carrying: accounting books that shouldn’t be in his hands.

Inspector Nam showed up few minutes later, a sly grin on his face when he saw him holding the proofs he needed to catch them all. Arresting the two families just for a fight could not assure that every one of them would end up behind bars, he had said, and adding fraud and illegal business charges to violence could just lock them up forever; besides, it was a way to catch others who had worked with the family. Seungyoon was pretty sure he counted on the Song family to kill a part of the Kim one before catching them, but you could never be sure.

Nam Taehyun always liked to have backup plans.

“I’m sure you’ll get the promotion you were waiting for, officer Kang”.

“Yeah… sir”, he added at last, trying to sound not too bothered. That wasn’t his priority. “Did you have news from the tactical unit?”

“They’re still out. I’m sure they’ll bring them here soon enough”.

Seungyoon nodded, his thoughts far away, to Mino and his sister… somehow he felt guilty about her. He couldn’t quite forget what she had said at his shop, the love she had for Jinwoo was big enough to be wrecked and thirsty for revenge. She had to be a strong woman, but Seungyoon knew that she was hurting the most. Mino wouldn’t stop her for getting what she wanted, no matter how worried he could get.

He was brought back to reality by Inspector Nam. He had started talking. “You did really well, officer Kang. I expected you to pry and ask pointless questions, especially when Kim Jinwoo died, but you followed the rules and my orders without complaining. This is admirable”.

“What… what about Kim Jinwoo?”, he asked, his mind flying back to the man who had visited his shop so many times. He had been gentle and sweet, his smile bright as much as his personality. Seungyoon partially liked him, he was a good person. He could not really have hard feelings toward him, if not for the last time he had seen him. He had met him at the gallery, just few minutes after he had talked to Inspector Nam. He had feared Jinwoo had caught him red-handed, but the man had smiled like every other time and Seungyoon assumed he hadn’t seen them. He hoped so.

Seungyoon hated to admit that at first Jinwoo’s death had relieved him from that doubt, somehow.

“He knew about us. I got him followed by one of our other officers and he was actually spying us… maybe to be sure he had seen right the first time. I had to get rid of him, of course”.

Seungyoon just gaped at him, speechless. This was a hard blow to take. It was too much to digest all at once. He was able only to squeak a feeble “what?” as he started to understand what that meant.

Inspector Nam looked at him with his small eyes, grinning. “You heard right”.

“But it was Kim… Kim Hanbin and Kim Jiwon… killing…”

Inspector Nam patted his shoulders, paternalistically. “You told me Song Danah was what could make Song Mino act recklessly, start a war before a wedding… go and kill the Kim brothers without even thinking about it twice, because his sister wants revenge”. That was true: it had been him and him only, Kang Seungyoon, giving this piece of information. “I just used the data you collected to make everything fit in a fabricated reality the Songs would be prone to believe. I let them hear what they wanted to hear at the right time, the right place… I promised immunity to the man who acted at the pub and lured those Song’s men to my trap, like it’s supposed to be”.

Seungyoon frowned at that. “Do you mean… it’s been you all the time? All of this was your doing… from the very start?”

“There is still a lot you have to learn, but I’ll show you the way”. Nam Taehyun smiled invitingly. “You must use this”, he pointed at his head, “to be sure you’ll have a good result”.

Seungyoon couldn’t believe it.

Everything had been built around a lie from the very beginning. He had been fooled by this man, treated like a pawn, used to get what he wanted. That would have been fine, if Seungyoon wasn’t this involved. That would be just normal police procedure, if he hadn’t given his whole self to Song Mino. And he didn’t even mean just his body, because he...

_He was in love with him._

Seungyoon realized it right there, as Inspector Nam checked the books he had brought to him. The first reaction was just a choked squeak he tried to cover with a cough.

He was in love with Mino, no matter how wrong it could be. And he couldn’t bear to hear that man praising him for his work, when that meant Mino could be injured or arrested by his doing. He had known all along and accepted the orders, even when he felt pain clenching his chest, but not it was different. Now he knew the whole weight of the feelings he had for Song Mino and he couldn’t just live with them, not quietly.

He couldn’t believe he had condemned Mino… for all he had believed before today and the promises he had done to himself, and for blindly believing he was in the right the whole time, when he actually was the reason behind Jinwoo’s death. It was something he couldn’t just put in words, because to common sense, to their society, he was the good one, the brave policeman who had accepted to work undercover and sacrifice himself to the enemy to be sure to catch him. He was the one who should be able to sleep at night without a hint of remorse. He was the hero.

But Seungyoon felt wrecked. He felt like shit. Betrayed. In the wrong.

He was pretty sure he was faint in the shock; and yet, hate was stronger. It was red and black, it was fire ready to destroy. Seungyoon had felt like this only another time in his life: when he got the news his father had been killed and he would not come back to him, not once more.

“Sir… you should have told me before”, Inspector Nam looked confused and Seungyoon hated him even more, he wanted to erase the veil of satisfaction on his face. “I should have known earlier… that you have committed such a severe crime”.

“You would have told to the superiors. And we would have lost this amazing result. Now no one would complain about the death of one single man by my hand”.

Seungyoon thought of Jinwoo, his warm smile, his timid attempts of joking, the attention and love he put in choosing a bouquet for his wife… and charged, punching his boss right on his jaw.

When he saw the man on the ground, looking at him with angry eyes, Seungyoon panicked and ran away. Before he could think about it, he headed to where the Kim wedding was held.

*

Mino spun the knife in his right hand, his tongue clicking on the roof of his mouth as he studied the whole scene unfolding: few men were gathered in front of a small building, Kim Jinhwan was talking with one of his cousins, nodding energetically once in a while; Kim Jiwon was smoking alone, looking at the milky sky, probably waiting for the wedding to start; Kim Hanbin was inside the building, for now.

Mino stepped forward, walking to the centre of the street. He wanted them to see him and fear him, because he was going to end it now. He knew they weren’t ready to this, so he hoped the surprise would be enough to secure an easy victory.

He lived for the moment his opponent noticed him and freaked out, just before the chaos started. Kim Jinhwan was closer to him and turned to look at him, his brow creasing as he recognized him and yelled something Mino disregarded.

He raised the knife and leaped forward, his family following.

Dive. Turn. Lurch forward. Thrust.

On and on again.

Check on Danah, once in a while, then go back to it.

Dive, turn, lunch forward. Thrust the knife forward. Dig it in the flesh. Fight.

Seungyoon wasn’t in time. Mino didn’t see him run like his life was depending on it. He had already been stopped and taken by the police, handcuffs at his wrist and dread in his heart.

Mino hated the policeman questioning him. He was too full of himself, thinking he had the whole world in the palm of his hand. Mino wanted to teach him a lesson, but he was in no position to do such a thing.

He tried to make him confess his crimes but Mino would not talk. “Well, we have enough proofs to put in you jail for a very long time, along with all your dearest ones”.

Mino didn’t care anymore, now. Everything was pointless when his whole family was going to be sentenced.

Danah hadn’t been injured during the fight against Hanbin, but there was nothing left for her but the white walls of a cell, and a life to spend thinking about what she could have had with Jinwoo by her side. Her flame would last long, but weak and dim.

The others would probably stay there for a shorter time, Mino had reasoned, because they had fewer deeds to be convicted for, but it was still the same: he couldn’t protect them, not anymore. Even if he had men working for him in the police, with his hands tied like this he couldn’t pay them or make promises he couldn’t keep. At the top of that, he wouldn’t be able to see them anymore.

And he had lost Seungyoon too. His happiness was over even before starting.

Mino had never felt this useless. He had always had a purpose in his family, a reason to live, no matter how wrong it could seem to others. He had a keen eye for details and liked the business and even had fun doing it, being the head of that family, being someone they could count on.

“Do you want to know how we caught you?”, Inspector Nam said then, a smirk on his face. “Do you want to know who gave you away?”

Mino had thought about it: there was no one who could have spoken, in his opinion. Not in his family… that was something they wouldn’t just do, not after all they had together.

Mino just shrugged his shoulders, unwilling to fight any longer. Maybe if he gave him a small satisfaction like listening to him, he would finally shut up and let him go to his cell again.

“It was him… the one you liked oh so much”, that inspector smirked, actually giggled in elation as he talked. Mino found it dumb and self-indulgent. There was no one he liked that would do such a thing… only his family and… it couldn’t be.

For once after days of lazy apathy and empty hate toward that man, Mino shifted, his body tensing as doubt spread inside him. He felt the anger clenching around his chest, anticipating the revealed truth.

“Oh, you’re right, Mr. Song. It’s him”, he beamed. “What it feels like to be betrayed by those you love the most? As a spectator, this is extremely amusing”.

Mino tightened his jaw and snapped forward, getting up from the chair to be as tall as that sickening man who was starting to truly pissing him off. “Do you mean…”

“Yes. Kang Seungyoon. Born in Busan, a part of the police force since he was twenty years old”. He nodded earnestly. “So, how does it feel?”

Empty.

_The blow is always stronger when you love too much,_ Mino was sure about that. He didn’t utter a word – there was no reason to.

It was spring again. Mino could see it by the small square of sky he was able to look at from his cell: the days were longer than before and the sunlight was warmer, somehow.

That day Mino had accepted the flowers the guard gave him, even if reluctantly. He had no strength to throw them away, feeling too hollow to even get angry. When once there had been fire, now there was a desert of cold melancholia.

_Forget-me-nots_. Even without knowing their true meaning, Mino knew what they stood for. As he hugged the bouquet tightly, the scent intoxicating him, he thought of Seungyoon.

At first he had hated Seungyoon in his entirety. His anger had been so strong they had to sedate him, worrying he might attempt at his own life or his cellmates’. He had felt the need to wreck everything, scratch, punch, hurt, destroy, the need to feel something being tore apart under his fingers.

He hated everything. This whole situation, his impossibility to do anything, all the things he had done to end up there. He loathed himself, for being who he was, this Song Mino, this man who had thought he could do anything he wanted and never get caught. He was not worthy, he had never been.

And so he realized he hadn’t hated Seungyoon, not him, not truly. Not once.

And that had emptied him once again, letting him dry and hopeless. Even if he loved Seungyoon, there was no future for them. There was no reason for missing him, and yet…

Mino hugged himself a little more, squeezing the bouquet he was holding. He checked that his cellmates were fast asleep and let out a big gulp.

A Song cries when there is no one watching.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was posted for the old minyoon ficfest I made with Patti! I'm reposting it here with some editing (typos or misused words) after years, because I really love this story and I thought I should share it here too.  
> I think that I have to thank Peaky Blinders (s01) and Heartless City for inspiring the plot of this story.   
> Overall, I feel like the ending might be hopeless, but I like to imagine a Song Mino finishing his sentence and going out of jail to find a Kang Seungyoon waiting for him with white tofu. Maybe i got soft with age hahah


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